A Forum for Orthodox Jewish thought on Halacha, Hashkafa, and the social issues of our time.

Friday, June 12, 2015

The Judaism of Our Forefathers

President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin

I know this may be a very unpopular opinion. But I support
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin’s approach to the religious character of the
State. Or more specifically which body should determine that. My understanding
is that although he is a traditional Jew in many ways, President Rivlin in not an
observant Jew in an Orthodox sense. Nonetheless he endorses the idea of defining
Judaism in Orthodox terms.

This was demonstrated recently by the following incident described
by Shmuel Rosner in a New York Times oped:

The ultra-Orthodox mayor of the Israeli city Rehovot,
canceled a bar mitzvah ceremony for autistic boys because of its planned
location: a Conservative synagogue.

Progressive leaders protested, and the government, seeking to
prevent the story from turning into a storm of Jewish protest against Israel,
asked Mr. Rivlin to host the ceremony.

The president initially agreed, but then things turned ugly.
After some negotiations, it became clear that the president’s idea of “compromise”
was to let an Orthodox rabbi take over. The Conservative rabbi — the rabbi who
invested months of work in preparing the boys for their bar mitzvahs — was
relegated to a secondary role...

Government officials, from the Diaspora Affairs Ministry to
the Foreign Ministry, tried to negotiate a compromise. Even the prime
minister’s office got involved. But all attempts ultimately failed. Mr. Rivlin
insisted on having an Orthodox rabbi officiate.

This was of course very upsetting to the Conservative Movement.
They and other heterodox movements have been trying to get a foothold in Israel’s religious life to - as of yet - no avail. To many, including some Orthodox rabbinic leaders on
the far left, this is seen as grossly unfair. They believe that all
denominations should be allowed to have some influence on the Judaism as
practiced by their constituency. Tiny though they may be in the Jewish State.

After all, their membership in the west has
been supporting the state both morally and financially since its inception. Fully
53% of all American Jews are either Reform or Conservative compared to 10% being Orthodox. The implied threat being, “If you keep barring us from
having any say about religion in Israel the money will stop flowing!”

Now that’s
motivation! And yet Israel has refused to cave – despite the fact that most
Israelis are not observant by Orthodox standards.

Why is that?

There is a saying about secular Jews in Israel that goes something
like this: The Shul that I don’t go to – is Orthodox! The reason they say that is
that they understand that Conservative and Reform Judaism is an invention of
the 19th and 20th century. They did not exist prior to
that. Secular Jews in Israel look at their grandparents and great-grandparents in Europe and the Middle East that were observant by Orthodox standards.

Even those that weren’t observant in those days understood that authentic Judaism required observance of the Mitzvos the way Orthodox
Jews understand it. Even as many Jews increasingly abandoned observance at the time they
still knew what defined Judaism. Israelis know by instinct that Conservative
and Reform Judaism is not the Judaism of their forefathers. The closest thing
to it is what we today call Orthodox.

Of course Heterodox rabbis don’t see it that way. They see the an Orthodox stranglehold on religion in Israel that is a function of coalition
politics. The Israeli rabbinate has been given unprecedented power over
religion in Israel. They forget however that that most of that power was
granted to them by Israel’s founders in its earliest stages.

Even though
Charedi influences now dominate the rabbinate, it has always been an Orthodox rabbinate from
day one. It should also not be lost on anyone that the very term Orthodox was
thrust upon those of us by Heterodox movements. Before they came around we were all Jews.
Some observant. Some not. Some more some less. But all cut from same cloth. There were no denominations.

There are those who say that Charedism is not authentic
Judaism either. That observant Jews were never tied to the Hashkafa of Daas
Torah as Charedim define it. That may or may not be true. But even if it is,
there is not a doubt in my mind that Conservative and Reform Judaism is a lot
further from authentic Judaism than Charedism is.

So unlike my Orthodox left
wing counterparts, I absolutely do not want to see them get a foothold in
Israel. That the Conservative Movement is now struggling to survive does not
give them license to try demand spreading their movement to Israel. Especially when their constituency there is minuscule. Besides, if it didn’t work in
America, why would they think it would work in Israel? Theirs is a failed
system of religion.

It is only a matter of time that they will cease to exist at
all in nay significant. I may not see it in my lifetime, but just like the Sadducees,
the Essenes, the Samaritans, the Karaites, the Sabbateans, and the
Frankists, they too will dwindle to an insignificant minority if not disappear
altogether. I believe that will happen even if they successfully challenge the
Orthodox control of the Rabbinate. (Which I don’t think will happen.) What about the threat of dwindling financing support? That may happen. But money should never impact on maintaining one’s ideals.

I am not saying this to be mean. I am just analyzing the
statistics and making predictions. I actually think that their waning influence
over the masses of non Orthodox Jewry has its downside even for Orthodox Jewry.
That they instill any appreciation of Judaism at all to their members is
helpful to those of us in outreach. A lot of now Orthodox Jews (Balei Teshuva) started out as
serious Conservative or even Reform Jews – looking for more that their
denominations gave them. Conservative Jewry’s waning numbers will negatively impact on outreach.

But the handwriting is on the wall. And I don’t think
Israel should change its policies in order to save them. Even if it costs them support . Which is in any case uncertain. In the end, the only
Jews that will survive into the future are those Jews whose children will be
educated to be observant. And the place that is happening the most by orders of
magnitude is in Orthodoxy. What kind of Orthodoxy is another question and not
the subject of this post. But it will be an Orthodoxy evolved out of the
traditions of our forefathers that will remain. Not the new doctrines of heterodox movements. Although President Rivlin is not himself observant in Orthodox terms, he is very wise to know that.

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About Me

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelor's Degree - majoring in Psychology.